Bahrain: Qualifying report

The final round of the 2005 FIA GT Championship will see Christophe
Bouchut on pole position for the fourth time this year. The Russian Age
Racing Aston Martin he shares with Antonio Garcia will start ahead of the
two JMB Racing Maserati MC 12...

The final round of the 2005 FIA GT Championship will see Christophe
Bouchut on pole position for the fourth time this year. The Russian Age
Racing Aston Martin he shares with Antonio Garcia will start ahead of the
two JMB Racing Maserati MC 12 cars, with the nr 15 of Championship
leaders Andrea Bertolini and Karl Wendlinger second, ahead of the nr 16
of Jamie Davies and Philipp Peter. Unusually, pole position changed in
the second session, after Bertolini had set the best time in the first
forty-five minutes of qualifying for tomorrow's race.

In GT2, Mike Rockenfeller set pole position in the nr 66 GruppeM
Porsche, ahead of Emmanuel Collard in the nr 88 GruppeM car, and the nr
90 Spyker Squadron Spyder C8, in the hands of Jeroen Bleekemolen.

BOUCHUT CLAIMS THIRD POLE IN A ROW

After claiming pole in Magny-Cours in the Russian Age Racing Ferrari 550
Maranello, Christophe Bouchut has set the best qualifying time for the
last three races of the season, giving him a 100% qualifying record in
the Aston Martin DBR9. The last time a driver managed three consecutive
overall poles was back in 1998, when both Bernd Schneider and Ricardo
Zonta took four in a row in their AMG Mercedes CLK LM cars. Bouchut set
a best time of 1:54.184 in the second session, finishing a tenth ahead of
the nr 15 Maserati, after a close battle throughout the day
Bouchut was delighted with his performance, and is looking forward to the
race. "The Aston Martin is really quick," he said. "I was really
impressed with Andrea [Bertollini]'s lap time in the first session.
Honestly, I thought I would not be able to improve on it. The car reacted
very well and I improved by just a tenth of a second. My new team mate
Antonio [Garcia] is really nice and he is driving very well - and we
both want to win."

Bouchut will start ahead of the two JMB Racing Maserati MC12s, Andrea
Bertolini having placed the nr 15 on the front row. "I had a good fight
with Christophe [Bouchut] for pole position," Bertolini explained. "For
us, it is very important to work towards the race in order to get a
maximum points. The balance of the car is very good and I hope for a good
result in the Championship." Jamie Davies, driving the nr 16 JMB
Maserati for the first time, set the third-fastest time, just three
tenths of a second off pole. As for the other Championship contenders,
Babini and Biagi were the fastest of the Vitaphone Maserati cars, in
fourth, just ahead of the nr 11 Larbre Competition Ferrari 550, with nr 9
Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati of Bartels and Scheider sixth. The nr 12
Larbre Competition car was a fine seventh, ahead of the nr 2 GPC
Ferrari. The Zhuhai winners, the nr 6 GLPK Carsport Corvette, was tenth,
having struggled on the smooth circuit.

ROCKENFELLER COMPLETES GRUPPEM POLE DOMINATION

For the eleventh time this season, it will be a GruppeM Porsche that will
start from the front of the GT2 grid. Although all four drivers have
shared the qualifying tasks, and both poles and wins have been claimed by
both cars, the team has nevertheless claimed eleven pole positions, as
well as the Team and Drivers titles this season. The battle between the
two cars has never shown signs of letting up, and Bahrain was no
exception. With the nr 66 car lighter than the nr 88 for the first time
this season, Rockenfeller set a time of 2:01.468 in the first qualifying
session, which could not be bettered during the second, generally faster,
session. This was not, however, the car's best time of the day, as they
set a time of 2:00.766 in the second free practice session. "It is quite
good to be on pole. It is the first time that we have less weight in the
car than our team mates. It made things a little bit easier for us," the
21-year-old GT2 Champion explained.

With Collard qualifying second in the nr 88 car, despite carrying 75 kg
penalty weight, third on the grid will be the nr 90 Spyker Squadron
Spyder C8, having set a time of 2:02.922 in the afternoon. "We found a
good set-up for the race," Collard said. "Still, I think it will be very
difficult. Also, the Spyker is coming closer, so there will be a close
fight tomorrow. I hope that we will not disturb the GT1 race because they
will have to overtake three GT2 cars at the same time, which is going to
be difficult !"

Fourth place went to the nr 86 GPC Ferrari 360 Modena of Drudi, Pirri and
Pregliasco, ahead of Moro and Kaufmann in the nr 97 Lammertink Porsche.

VERTIGO IMPROVES IN THE AFTERNOON SESSION

The sole G2 competitor in Bahrain, the Belgian Racing Vertigo Streiff,
set a time of 2:06.711 this afternoon to qualify seventh among the GT2
cars. The team, which was still suffering gear-box problems after their
differential failure in Dubai, made a big improvement in the afternoon,
after failing to set a qualifying time this morning. "The technical staff
is working very hard and they are going to change the gearbox," Bas
Leinders explained. "Normally tomorrow, everything should be ok. Compared
to last year here in the Bahrain GT Festival, it will be not be possible
to obtain the same results when we came 7th overall and 2nd in GT2. We
hope to finish the race and we will look at the GT1 battle tomorrow on
the track". Leinders is sharing the car with Renaud Kuppens and Vanina
Ickx.

FIRST QUALIFYING : BERTOLINI GAINS UPPER HAND

Andrea Bertolini set the best time in the first qualifying session, held
in the middle of the day. In the nr 15 JMB Maserati MC 12, he set a time
of 1:55.063, nearly four tenths ahead of the nr 17 Aston Martin,
qualified by Christophe Bouchut. The nr 16 JMB was third fastest, with a
time of 1:56.041, just seven thousandths of a second ahead of the nr 10
Vitaphone Maserati of Babini and Biagi. In GT2, the nr 66 GruppeM
Porsche set the best time, with a lap of 2:01.468, over a second fastest
than the nr 8 car, with the nr 90 Spyker third.

With most teams expecting the second session to be the faster, some cars
waited as long as possible to come out, while cars such as the nr 2 GPC
Ferrari 575 and the nr 11 Larbre Ferrari 550 opted not to take part at
all, in order to save their tyres for the afternoon.

The nr 6 GLPK Carsport Corvette was the first to take provisional pole in
the session, with a time of 1:56.942. Thirteen minutes into the session,
the nr 17 Aston Martin went fastest, with a time of 1:55.810, improving
later to 1:55.455. With fifteen minutes to go, the nr 15 JMB Maserati
came out, and was quickly up to second, setting the fastest time of the
session seven minutes before the end.

SECOND QUALIFYING SESSION: THREE IN A ROW FOR BOUCHUT

The second session started at 16:30, finishing in the dark. With
temperatures lower than at midday, the cars which had not set a time in
the morning, including the nr 11 Larbre Competition Ferrari, quickly came
out onto the track. The nr 15 Maserati set a time of 1:55.009, improving
on their earlier provisional pole, and signalling that times were likely
to improve.

Fourteen minutes into the session, Jamie Davies, in the nr 16 Maserati MC
12, set a time of 1:54,565, nearly a second better than the previous
best, to top the tables. However, the other cars had not yet had their
final word, and Andrea Bertolini set first a time of 1:54.616, which he
then improved to 1:54.296 to move into the lead. Twenty-five minutes
into the session, Bouchut went out again in the nr 17 Russian Age Racing
Aston Martin and set a time of 1:54.184, which was good enough to secure
pole for the Frenchman. For the last fifteen minutes, in total darkness,
times did not improve, guaranteeing another pole for Russian Age Racing.
Unlike GT1, the leading GT2 times did not improve in the afternoon, and
Rockenfeller's midday lap of 2:01.468 remained good enough for pole.

Collard, in the nr 88 Porsche, improved by two tenths, remaining second,
while the nr 90 Spyker took nearly a second off his best time to retain
third place, ahead of the nr 86 GPC Ferrari 360, and the nr 97 Lammertink
Porsche, nearly two seconds better than in the morning.